Back in 2021, at the beginning of the St. Valentine’s Day weekend, Texas (and many other states) was hit by a historic snowstorm that brought sub-degree temperatures to a state that was ill-equipped and not ready for such extreme cold. Many people were without power and water for days, and people suffered because their dwellings were not equipped for extreme weather. And, as with any tragedy or hardship, there were a lot of reactions and responses. Some were outraged and took their voices on social media, letting people know how frustrated they are with the state and ERCOT who were deemed to mishandle the situation. Some went out of their way to help their neighbors and those who were in need. Hence, we see two very humanistic reactions and responses to the situation: one is of complaint and pity, and the other of compassion and love.
I am not dismissing the sufferings that some experienced, for I received many phone calls for help (but very little actual help could be offered at that moment). However, when the regional city governments, nonprofit organizations, and churches began to open their doors as warming centers for those who were without power, they were shocked to realize that few people took advantage of the opportunity and assistance. I tried to pass the information on to those who were calling the parish office for help; unfortunately, I ended up hearing too many rejections and excuses of why they cannot make it to these places. Some reasonings were valid, especially for the sick and elderly who were not as mobile, but too many excuses were just half-hearted because the offers were not convenient for them.
That incident reminded us of a very sobering fact! In spite of our best efforts, we cannot control nature. It makes us uncomfortable because we feel so small, out of touch, and limited in our capacity to respond to natural disasters or events. Over and over again, natural or human-made disasters make us feel uneasy because we think that these things should not have happened with modern technologies, first-world advances, and scientific progresses. We think that we should somehow tame nature and have things under control so we can remain in our creature comforts. We quickly blame the government, people, and entities for their ineffectiveness to handle these situations, but we are very slow to accept our own human smallness and ineffectiveness for there are things much more than any of us can control. Life has its challenges and unforeseen messiness, and it is up to each and every one of us to choose how to react or respond to each obstacle or opportunity that arises.
I get it, I struggle with being comfortable, too! We are creatures of habit and feel best in our very own comfort zone. No one likes to be pushed too much outside of their creature comforts. That is why we often resist, and at times, resent challenges.
When an adversity, trial, hardship, or challenge comes we can simply choose to react or respond, seeing it as an obstacle or an opportunity, choosing it as a potential growth, or remaining resentful. In life, when adversity comes, we can either choose to lock ourselves behind closed doors, filled with fears, anxieties, and pities, or to go out of ourselves to actually care, love, and serve one another who is around us and walk along the way.
It is easy to think, “How did people survive or live like this back in the old days?” Yet, we forget that there are actually people who have to endure extreme weather and temperature or the lack of basic necessities like what we have taken for granted. Sometimes, these people are right around our corner — here and now. As a matter of fact, our very own basic creature comforts are actually luxuries and coveted desires for many around the world. So many people are wishing, at this moment, to have a little taste of what we are experiencing every day! For that, we should be grateful and willing to be able to endure little obstacles, hardships, and trials from time to time.
I am not saying that this willingness to be courageous, persevere, and stay strong in trying times is easy. Nonetheless, this is who we are and the potentiality we bear within our very own selves! When we are able to come to realize our ability to overcome obstacles, we unlock within ourselves the willpower to embrace the current situations and all their challenges. And, if this is the tremendous willpower and capacity that we possess as human beings, imagine the possibility that our souls possess with the grace of God.
Hence, just like in our natural day-to-day dealings, none of us like to be taken out of our own comfort zones, we are often challenged to go out of our own egocentric and humanistic kingdoms that we have built for ourselves in order to follow God. We are invited to grow and mature in our very own faith journey and love for Him, which requires at times, a lot of self-denial and dying to our will to be in control and comfortable. These spiritual growth and maturity moments will be heavy, hard, and trying crosses to bear, but we are never given anything more than what we can embrace by His divine providence. Even though they are challenging for us, thinking that we are too weak, do not have enough willpower, or possess the capacity to endure those adversities and trials, we need to remember that we are not alone. If God, in His infinite wisdom and loving providence, permits things to happen, even through others’ evil intentions or disastrous mishaps, He will be with us to endow us with sufficient grace to bear them. Let me be the first to say that is not to say that these things will be easy like a piece of cake to handle, but we will find enough strength to embrace the hurts, pains, sufferings, and trials that are present in the moment if we dig deep and turn to rely on His grace.
Great saints that we respect and admire were in similar situations to us. Contrary to our pious and false beliefs that they somehow are stronger, have things made, or are special and preserved from adversities by God, many endured heavy crosses from wrongdoings, hurts, accusations, trials, sufferings, illnesses, threats, and even death. Yet, what set them apart was their willingness to bear all wrongs out of love! Of course, none of us would ever want to seek these things out, nor did they, but we can choose to willingly and lovingly embrace the messiness, failures, and wrongdoings that are in life in order to truly love and give our very own selves to Him who loves us.
The ironic paradox of faith lies in our very own desire to be in control and have things our way! The more we try to hold on to our very own standards, comforts, demands, and expectations, the more we lose our very own joy, peace, and divine life of grace within us. The more we try to let go of our dictatorial control so as to die to ourselves, to give our all to Him, and to personally and lovingly choose to follow Him at all costs, the more we learn how to live simply and full of contentment. In other words, the journey of faith has always been a journey of love, one that is not counted and judged by humanistic, pleasing, and quantifiable means, measurements, and goods but by the true, self-giving, simple, heartfelt, and loving quality of genuineness, transparency, faithfulness, and perseverance.
The true profit in the life of faith and journey toward our heavenly homeland is the one that can only be understood by love, the true love of and for God that comes from our very own self-giving desires and sacrificial actions. We will be deemed fools, religious fanatics, idiots, and sheepish people who are too dumb to reach our fullest potential through self-will, egocentrism, and humanistic achievements and glorification. The Lord Jesus Christ raised this exact question in Luke 9:22-25, by asking us, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” He did not simply ask us through just mere words or eloquent rhetoric, but true His very own life examples and lessons of embracing the Cross and all its pains, tortures, betrayals, rejections, and sufferings. Our Savior gave us a real personal example of what it means to die to one’s self in order to love, to give one’s own life as a sacrificial offering and exchange so others might live, to embrace all pains and sufferings without losing or forfeiting one’s own identity and values.
No one in this world has the power to take away from us what is truly given to us by God! They do not have that power if we do not give them that ability. They can threaten us, instill fears, and make our lives miserable, but if we know what is truly important, who gives us life, and where our source of joy and peace lies, nothing or no one could ever take that real faith, hope, and love from us for we know who we are and who we belong to!
Simply put, the life of faith is filled with many inconveniences, trials, hardships, and at times, sufferings, too, but that is just the reality of life and all its messiness. We can choose to resent, complain, pity, and lock ourselves in our very own created hell or we can choose to go beyond our very own comfort zones, humanistic kingdoms, its false sense of control and protection in order to truly embark on the journey of responding, following, loving, and giving our very own selves to Him who loves, taught, and given us real examples of what it means to love.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 